FreeGameDev

DM6: The Dark Zone v0.2

Hi, and welcome to my best (finishable) mapping attempt so far, one which happens to be a remake of the famed darkzone, a.k.a DM6 (no, NOT campgrounds; that is Q3DM6, and is unsuitable for RE's physics).

History:
DM6 originally appeared in Quake (the first)'s multiplayer mode as the final Deathmatch map. It was highly praised for it's balanced layout and ease of movement. It has since reappeared in various unofficial ports to UT games and to Q3A. More recently a modified version with a high-tech theme can be found in Xonotic 0.6.

You might ask, why am I releasing this map so early in it's development? Well, as it is my first solo attempt (even if it is a remake) I would like extensive feedback and advice. This also lets people who are not mapmakers look into the mapmaking process.

Features:

v2 alpha:
teleporters added
experimental skylight added
weapon placement slightly adjusted

Screenshots:(Zoom in for better viewing) ATTENTION: These are outdated, please download





Download Latest Version:

v1 alpha: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/24311617/qw_dm6_v1_alpha.zip


I would like critique in particular on:
Scale: is it correct? Any areas I should fix?
Weapons: Are the weapons spaced correctly? Is there a good balance?
Theme: Recommendations on future texturing + lighting work welcome. Please note this is not a contest, I am not looking for people to texture my map for me. kthxbai

After various fails, getting to this point took me about a month. Thanks for taking a look

The good old DM 6.

Future remakes planned:
hubaeroq3/Aerowalk - 10% finished
DM17/longestyard (version by Viruz is WAY too small, needs to be about two times as big) - not yet started
ZTN/Bloodrun - not yet started

Hm. We don't have q1dm6 on cube 2 so - good work. I start wait it.

ballist1c {l Wrote}:Future remakes planned:
hubaeroq3/Aerowalk - 10% finished

Hm. I have this map for sauer (also i remade it a bit, so it playable in RE). But all remakes of classical quake maps have "not comercial" lisence. So i don't know, how your current map if it will finished can be lisenced on cc-by-sa.

ballist1c {l Wrote}:ZTN/Bloodrun - not yet started

Woho. ZTN. Create this first !

Hmm this is really early to give feedback because all you have here is basic layout. But I'll give you some tips about how I go when making maps.

- Personally, I find that it is more difficult to apply textures after creating whole rooms or buildings with untextured cubes. Try to build smaller pieces, give it some detail (you might add some more when finishing the map) and apply textures. Then continue with the rest. This has 2 advantages: you can easily copy - paste the created wall / ornament in a better state and more importantly it gives you a better visual indication about the scale. Depending on the texture / scale of the texture you choose for a wall, you can calculate how many rows of cubes you need to add to the wall to make the texture fit.
- Keep the affinities and weapons for the end. You probably will be moving or shifting some pieces of the map at a later time and then you have to move them along. First do the geometry and texturing, then lighting, then affinities and at the very end the waypoints.

I agree that it is interesting to see a map grow, so keep posting images and you might want to add some pictures of the original map when you do a remake so that we can compare, which is always nice

While remaking something like that, is important I guess to choose a proper scale for RE gameplay, where I would expect a bit bigger and less of obstacles. (more spacious entrances for instance.)

@TristamK

TristamK {l Wrote}:i don't know, how your current map if it will finished can be lisenced on cc-by-sa.

I don't see why it can't be CCBYSA


@Ulukai

Ulukai {l Wrote}:Hmm this is really early to give feedback because all you have here is basic layout. But I'll give you some tips about how I go when making maps.
- Personally, I find that it is more difficult to apply textures after creating whole rooms or buildings with untextured cubes. Try to build smaller pieces, give it some detail (you might add some more when finishing the map) and apply textures. Then continue with the rest.

Thanks for your tips! I have tried your method before; what happened is I got "bogged down" with all the details in that tiny one corner, and I never get to actually creating the rest of the geometry. I have very good spatial perception, almost OCD. Everytime I make a room, I count it by the number of cubes to make sure it is exactly what I want, so I have no worries about that kind of stuff. I have already spotted some "uneven" geometry in the first version

Ulukai {l Wrote}:Depending on the texture / scale of the texture you choose for a wall, you can calculate how many rows of cubes you need to add to the wall to make the texture fit.

Hm, I think the opposite in this case. Since the layout of the map (for me) will ALWAYS be more important then texturing, I will use vscale to rescale the texture if needed to make the them fit to the walls.

Ulukai {l Wrote}:- Keep the affinities and weapons for the end. You probably will be moving or shifting some pieces of the map at a later time and then you have to move them along. First do the geometry and texturing, then lighting, then affinities and at the very end the waypoints.

I agree, actually; the only reason I put them in was to 1) mark where the original weapon spawnpoints were in Quake, and 2) make the map somewhat playable with more than one person on it (or with bots).



@Damien

D.A.M.I.E.N. {l Wrote}:While remaking something like that, is important I guess to choose a proper scale for RE gameplay, where I would expect a bit bigger and less of obstacles. (more spacious entrances for instance.)

It is not supposed to be a "big" map; Quake maps have always been "tighter" and more fast-paced than other maps. Every time I make a room, I test it extensively to see if it feels right-sized, this is why it took me so long to get to this point. There are no real hazards or obstacles in DM6.
I suggest this map for 4-6 players; maybe even duel, like it was used in Quake 1 for. Which parts do you think need more spacious entrances?

by the way, I highly recommend every mapmaker should install S.E.S's additional editing GUI: http://forum.freegamedev.net/viewtopic.php?f=73&t=3304

ballist1c {l Wrote}:It is not supposed to be a "big" map; Quake maps have always been "tighter" and more fast-paced than other maps. Every time I make a room, I test it extensively to see if it feels right-sized, this is why it took me so long to get to this point. There are no real hazards or obstacles in DM6. I suggest this map for 4-6 players; maybe even duel, like it was used in Quake 1 for. Which parts do you think need more spacious entrances?

Of course I do know this map very well. But if I know right, in Quake you can't double-jump or wall-run, no? So this is what I suggested, to try to think about RE gaming style while remaking it. And in my opinion making it a little bit more spacious will work better with more players.

D.A.M.I.E.N. {l Wrote}:Of course I do know this map very well. But if I know right, in Quake you can't double-jump or wall-run, no? So this is what I suggested, to try to think about RE gaming style while remaking it. And in my opinion making it a little bit more spacious will work better with more players.

I don't just port random maps damien; I port ones I have played many times, and ones which will fit RE's movement. For example I will not port campgrounds because the style of corridors and jump pads simply will not fit RE, everybody would get crowded in one place and snipe from corners rather than play the map properly.

DM6 fits RE better than most Quake maps, because in quake players would rocketjump from top level to bottom level. In RE you cannot do this, but you can doublejump, which makes up for it. Wallrunning is even better as you can create shortcuts from room to room.

D.A.M.I.E.N. {l Wrote}:And in my opinion making it a little bit more spacious will work better with more players.

I don't want it to be a large map! If you play it with bots (select deathmatch) you will see it is already quite big actually. RE has way too many large maps already (colony, canals, center, deli, institute, etc.) that is why I am working on small maps and duel maps.

In reply to your previous points above, it is true that making a serious map takes a lot of time. It is a pleasant time-burner
And yes, you can scale down or scale up textures according to the amount of cubes you have left, but all textures have to fit and look realistic. I think you need to know in advance how big a texture you want on that wall in order to have all textures in balance.

Aside from that, every mapper has the same tools but might have different habits. Whatever works for you is OK ;-)

Update! v0.2 is out, download above.


Changes:
teleporters added
experimental skylight added
weapon placement slightly adjusted

Known Bugs:
For some unknown reason, the red teleport in the central room will sometimes lead to a blue teleport. All the others work fine, but this one is a mystery. Testing would be appreciated

Update coming soon, switched yellow theme out for a more conventional look. That yellow theme will probably be used in a future map where it fits more.

After careful consideration, I have decided that the last two Quake ports I will make will be Aerowalk and Toxicity to complete the quartet (this is final).

Update with new screenshots?

Aerowalk could be great for Red Eclipse, 1+ for this one. UT3 had a brilliant version of it.

:::edit:::

I confused it with "dm Aero" which was part of an UOF Mappack for UT3. Nevertheless, Quake's aerowalk was also great, as I remember now.